Valve reveals dates for the International 7’s regional qualifiers

With roughly four months left until one of the biggest esports events of the year, Dota 2 teams looking to qualify for the International 7 can already start preparing for the tournament’s regional qualifiers.

Valve has announced that the regional qualifiers for the International 7 will take place from June 26 to 29. The dates for the initial stage of the qualification process, the open qualifiers, are still unknown, however.

Valve also hasn’t revealed whether the regional qualifiers will cover the same regions as those ahead of the Kiev Major—which featured separate qualifiers for the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), and South America, meaning one team per region was guaranteed a spot at the Valve Major.

From April 24 to 30, 16 of the best Dota 2 teams in the world will be competing at the Kiev Major, which will be the final Valve-sponsored event ahead of the International 7.

The International 7 therefore has a rather difficult task ahead of it in terms of the size of its prize pool, as the previous year’s’ iteration of the event saw the prize pool increase by a staggering $19.8 million. That means it will certainly be interesting to see whether the event will succeed in growing even further in 2017.